Raiders coach Ricky Stuart fired from the hip after his side's loss to the Dragons Photo: Canberra Times

“Just bear with me with my voice, but if I didn’t come here people would think I was hiding, so excuse me with it. I’ll tell you where it is, and it’s the same as last week. I’ll tell you exactly where it’s at. And I could’ve said this earlier in the year but it’s an excuse. Seven tries there today. You get four Origin players, two Origin players score four of them. You get an international score another one and you get two internationals in the halves who have had outstanding games. They’re outstanding players, Benji and young Widdop. I’ve got a devastated bunch of boys in there who are busting their gut at the moment. All season they have, even when we get beat by 50 they’ve been putting in. And it’s hurts me seeing them hurt, it really does. It kills me to see them upset. Losing two star players last year, losing two Origin players last year have put us into this rut. We win games this year with those two players here. We’re in a position now where we’ve got to rebuild. Now every fan, every supporter, they can jam it into us and they can bag us for what it is, but until I get Origin players or internationals here around that group of blokes in there, I’ve got some brilliant young players coming through, it ain’t going to change, that’s my job. It’s as simple as that. We’ve got to cut to the chase and just be fair dinkum. Until I can recruit those boys, until we can grow our own, we're going to have to stick solid and keep working hard to get a win for this club. It's a great club, it has a very proud history and we're all hurting very much in regards to losing. I won't take my eye off the job, and that's why I'm making this statement today in regards to what we have to do to build this club. You only have to see out there, you only have to see last week. One player beat us last week, a superstar. Today, international players and Origin players beat us. We haven't got any. Until I get them here, we're going to have to keep fighting hard.

Q: How do you go about bringing those guys to the club Ricky. Do you need help from the NRL?

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No, we've just got to persevere. I've said all year it's time and patience. If you want me to be more open and honest about it, which I don't like doing because it just gives all the knockers out there an even crack at me. So be it, it doesn't hurt me, I don't give a stuff what people say about me. I'm here to do a job, and the way I do it is we slowly, slowly build. I'll grow my own in there, I've got Origin [potential] players in there that one day will play Origin. I've got kids in there absolutely hurting and killing themselves at the moment in regards to not being able to win. It is not effort, it is not work at training, it is not commitment. They love this club as much as I do and their fans. I will gradually get our own and I will gradually recruit players to this club, and we will be a force again one day. It's time and patience.

Q: Is there anything in particular Ricky which made you say this today?

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Yeah I'm getting sick of it and getting fed up with probably just giving you [media] the odd one-liner. I'm not looking for a scapegoat and I'm not trying to make excuses, I'm just telling you exactly how [it is]. Anybody who knows the game, anybody who sees us playing knows we're busting our boiler to try and do well. They know the position we're in and what I need to do for the club. I'm not making excuses, I'm not that type of person.

Q: You talk about representative players. Guys like Josh Papalii and Paul Vaughan showed they're the type of guys who could be regular rep players of the future.

Josh has had a tough year all year. He's had a hangover from the World Cup all year. He's a young boy and he knows he needs a rest, he even said that himself. He's our only representative player and we can't leave it all hanging on him. We've got young boys coming through there like Jack [Wighton], Toots [Jarrod Croker] and Vaughany, they're young players with a future I think can represent. We need to build around those boys with the other players we've got. It is not criticising the young blokes I've got there playing in my group, they're fabulous group of young blokes to work with. I've enjoyed coaching as much this year as I have in my career, and that's because of the players I coach, and the club I'm at.

Q: Rick, how does the situation with Terry Campese affect what you're trying to rebuild next season?

It doesn't affect me at all. What was in the paper today and I'm not trying to be rude, it was wrong.